Live from NCL Pearl Boston to Bermuda 04/15/2022

[styles27]

We made it! Terminal was a little crowded when we arrived @ 10:15 this morning.

Boston just seems to struggle with embarkation compared to Florida but that’s to be expected. 
 

Took about 75 min from the time we entered the terminal and got our room keys. We were on the ship by 12:10 

 

Had lunch at O’Sheehans and now we’re enjoying the hot tubs. 
Staterooms were ready a little before 1 our luggage was there when we got to our room at 1:30.  
 

Entertainment line up tonight is a welcome aboard show with a comedian and the cruise staff. Lots of music listed in different venues including karaoke!

Will post the daily when I get back to the room. 
 

All in all a good start to the cruise. The ship looks really nice (what we’ve seen of her so far) I was concerned after seeing some CC’ers report it looks old and tired. I haven’t seen evidence of that so far. 

Our club balcony suite is really nice and roomy. Bathroom is huge! Larger than our bathroom on MSC Divina in the yacht club. Our balcony is also very big in comparison. 

 

Not sure how our WiFi signal will be but I will try to answer questions if I can. May not be until we dock in Bermuda on Sunday if I can’t connect. 

Our grandson’s reaction to the ship was “wow it’s bigger than the Block Island Ferry” lol. He also can’t believe the food is free lol Gotta love kids!

[goldmom]

Thanks for posting.  Have a great time.  Looking forward to your updates.  Your grandson looks adorable and very excited. 

[Love2cruise77]

Thanks for posting.  Have a great cruise!

 

How many days before the cruise did you do the Bermuda TA?  Did you do it with the negative COVID test at the same time or did you start the application early and uploaded the negative tests within two days of the cruise?

[vacation44]

49 minutes ago, styles27 said:

We made it! Terminal was a little crowded when we arrived @ 10:15 this morning.

Boston just seems to struggle with embarkation compared to Florida but that’s to be expected. 
 

Took about 75 min from the time we entered the terminal and got our room keys. We were on the ship by 12:10 

 

Had lunch at O’Sheehans and now we’re enjoying the hot tubs. 
Staterooms were ready a little before 1 our luggage was there when we got to our room at 1:30.  
 

Entertainment line up tonight is a welcome aboard show with a comedian and the cruise staff. Lots of music listed in different venues including karaoke!

Will post the daily when I get back to the room. 
 

All in all a good start to the cruise. The ship looks really nice (what we’ve seen of her so far) I was concerned after seeing some CC’ers report it looks old and tired. I haven’t seen evidence of that so far. 

Our club balcony suite is really nice and roomy. Bathroom is huge! Larger than our bathroom on MSC Divina in the yacht club. Our balcony is also very big in comparison. 

 

Not sure how our WiFi signal will be but I will try to answer questions if I can. May not be until we dock in Bermuda on Sunday if I can’t connect. 

Our grandson’s reaction to the ship was “wow it’s bigger than the Block Island Ferry” lol. He also can’t believe the food is free lol Gotta love kids!

Love the smile and enjoy your sailing!

[styles27]

Thanks guys!

 

Day one daily and some pics of our stateroom club balcony suite 11084

[styles27]

Thanks guys!

 

Day one daily and some pics of our stateroom club balcony suite 11084

 

 

[Longstockingpippi1]

Thanks for doing this😃. I am sailing on the Pearl Friday. 

[jimbri]

Have a great time

[bluesea777]

16 hours ago, Love2cruise77 said:

Thanks for posting.  Have a great cruise!

 

How many days before the cruise did you do the Bermuda TA?  Did you do it with the negative COVID test at the same time or did you start the application early and uploaded the negative tests within two days of the cruise?

I’ll pip in … the latter is recommended… you start the TA application anytime, pay the $40, and upload your vaccination credentials. This will give them time to review your vax records and approve (or not), especially if you hold handwritten vax card. The official pdf is better.

 

Then when you receive negative test results and upload them, they will be processed quicker.

 

[1025cruise]

2 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

I’ll pip in … the latter is recommended… you start the TA application anytime, pay the $40, and upload your vaccination credentials. This will give them time to review your vax records and approve (or not), especially if you hold handwritten vax card. The official pdf is better.

 

Then when you receive negative test results and upload them, they will be processed quicker.

 

Most people in the US do not have official PDFs of their vaccination, just the handwritten cards. While I can get something from the state showing my vaccinations, it is not the official CDC card.

[bluesea777]

7 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Most people in the US do not have official PDFs of their vaccination, just the handwritten cards. While I can get something from the state showing my vaccinations, it is not the official CDC card.

 

That's why it is recommended to apply for the TA at least a week prior to the cruise, pay the $40 and upload the vaccination credentials, especially if it's the handwritten vaccination cards. This way the BTA can review the credentials and either approve or reject it. If rejected, you have the time to obtain the official records.

 

Better than waiting until the last minute and you receive the test results before applying and upload the whole lot, putting on extra workload to the BTA when you do that a day or two before the cruise. If they reject your vaccination credentials then you're SOL and time to obtain the official records.

 

 

[bluesea777]

@styles27 lovely pictures - the Club Balcony cabin looks great with new decor, and a walk-in shower instead of bathtub!!! Oh my! Very nice!!

 

ENJOY your cruise and Bermuda! Hope the sea and weather cooperate!

 

 

[dexddd]

Have a great time Styles.  What a great trip to take.

 

You going to take GS to the caves?

[Denise T]

Thank you for posting. I will be on the Pearl in October for Canada/New England. Thank you for posting pictures of the bathroom upgrades. 

[Longstockingpippi1]

1 hour ago, bluesea777 said:

 

That's why it is recommended to apply for the TA at least a week prior to the cruise, pay the $40 and upload the vaccination credentials, especially if it's the handwritten vaccination cards. This way the BTA can review the credentials and either approve or reject it. If rejected, you have the time to obtain the official records.

 

Better than waiting until the last minute and you receive the test results before applying and upload the whole lot, putting on extra workload to the BTA when you do that a day or two before the cruise. If they reject your vaccination credentials then you're SOL and time to obtain the official records.

 

 

Ncl states to upload vaccinations and results together. Bermuda says otherwise 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[bluesea777]

10 minutes ago, Longstockingpippi1 said:

Ncl states to upload vaccinations and results together. Bermuda says otherwise 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

 

 

True. I think I read somewhere that BTA has asked NCL to direct their pax to apply for TA earlier, not a day or 2 before, then they can upload results as they come in, a day or 2 before.

 

Last month we went off island to cruise out of Miami ... before we left Bermuda we applied for our return TAs, paid the $40 and uploaded our vaccination credentials. Got them approved. Then when we disembarked the cruise in Miami we went to have our antigen tests, got the results and uploaded to BTA. They approved them and we got the go ahead to fly home later on that same day.

 

 

[Broons77]

@styles27, thank you for doing this!  Following along as we'll be on her for this itinerary in May.

 

Noticed that it looks like you guys were a bit late getting underway, any idea why the delay?  And did you have any views of the Cape on your way around?

[Mademypoint]

10 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

Most people in the US do not have official PDFs of their vaccination, just the handwritten cards. While I can get something from the state showing my vaccinations, it is not the official CDC card.

I downloaded the DOCKET app here in NJ and was able to get the pdf by launching the app. There is an equivalent app in NY as well. 

[cruiserbear55]

1 hour ago, Broons77 said:

@styles27, thank you for doing this!  Following along as we'll be on her for this itinerary in May.

 

Noticed that it looks like you guys were a bit late getting underway, any idea why the delay?  And did you have any views of the Cape on your way around?

  

   Was on the cruise ended on 4/15. We got into Beantown relatively early, 6:30- 7:00 or so.They started walk-off disembarkation around 8:45-9:00.

   From that point, things seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. Unbeknown to those of us still waiting to be called, the brand new $3,200,000.00 portable gangway people moving system that Boston purchased and that had been used just three times was BROKEN!!

   The port people had to set up an old fashioned gangway system. It was two long ramps at what must have been a thirty degree angle. There was no way anyone who was mobility impaired, on crutches, in a scooter or a "rolly" , or older and not in the best shape was going to make it down that thing.

   So for anyone who couldn't do the ramp on their own, they put them in a wheelchair an

d slowly got them down. There would be two crew members in front acting as front brakes and one in back doing the same. They would only do one person at a time.

   It took a long time. We didn't get off till 10:45, and there were still many people behind us.

   I don't know if they got it working again for embarkation, as we left. If not, they would have had to do the above process in reverse. Was a real s***show!!

[Broons77]

Oh no!!!!

 

they had that thing on the local news for petes sake, it's supposed to be part of the big plan to get more cruise ship traffic into Boston.  That's not a great start.

 

Not to mention, DW is mobility impaired and rides in a wheelchair.  And I'm the pusher!  Hopefully techs are on site fixing that contraption...

[Longstockingpippi1]

3 hours ago, cruiserbear55 said:

  

   Was on the cruise ended on 4/15. We got into Beantown relatively early, 6:30- 7:00 or so.They started walk-off disembarkation around 8:45-9:00.

   From that point, things seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. Unbeknown to those of us still waiting to be called, the brand new $3,200,000.00 portable gangway people moving system that Boston purchased and that had been used just three times was BROKEN!!

   The port people had to set up an old fashioned gangway system. It was two long ramps at what must have been a thirty degree angle. There was no way anyone who was mobility impaired, on crutches, in a scooter or a "rolly" , or older and not in the best shape was going to make it down that thing.

   So for anyone who couldn't do the ramp on their own, they put them in a wheelchair an

d slowly got them down. There would be two crew members in front acting as front brakes and one in back doing the same. They would only do one person at a time.

   It took a long time. We didn't get off till 10:45, and there were still many people behind us.

   I don't know if they got it working again for embarkation, as we left. If not, they would have had to do the above process in reverse. Was a real s***show!!

Oh, that’s not good☹️☹️. Was this contraption working when you did your initial boarding? We leave out of Boston on Friday, sure hope it is working by then. My daughter is in a wheelchair ☹️☹️. 

[Burrata]

I see the Pearl on the Bermuda port webcam!

enjoy your stay in Bermuda

[rangeley]

Does anyone know what capacity the ship is sailing at?

[cruiserbear55]

8 hours ago, Longstockingpippi1 said:

Oh, that’s not good☹️☹️. Was this contraption working when you did your initial boarding? We leave out of Boston on Friday, sure hope it is working by then. My daughter is in a wheelchair ☹️☹️. 

 

   Was working when we embarked. Not when we disembarked.

[cruiserbear55]

15 minutes ago, rangeley said:

Does anyone know what capacity the ship is sailing at?

 

   We sailed (4/7-4/15) with about 1100 passengers, according to higher-ups on the ship. NCL stated capacity is 2394, so roughly 45%. It was extremely not crowded. We had lunch the first day in Summer, the main dining room. There were six(6!) of us in the entire restaurant!! Never a wait for anything. The crew bent over backwards to assist you. Wherever you went, whatever you did, they were there to offer help. Was like having a ship full of your own personal butlers.